Pirate Preview
September 04, 2003 09:47 AM | General
September 4, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Monday’s 40-3 loss to Cincinnati was one of those tough lessons all first-year coaches go through.
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez is all too familiar with East Carolina coach John Thompson’s predicament. Three years ago amidst high expectations Rodriguez endured a disappointing 34-10 loss at Boston College in his first-ever WVU game in 2001.
“You don't want to put too much emphasis on your first game because there are a whole lot of things that can go wrong,” said Rodriguez. "I was guilty of that."
Now, Thompson has just five days following Monday’s loss to get his Pirates ready to take on West Virginia in a 7 pm game this Saturday. East Carolina is expecting a crowd of more than 40,000 for Thompson’s home coaching debut.
Not much went right for East Carolina in its season opener against Cincinnati. ECU had just eight first downs and 203 total yards on offense, and gave up 361 yards rushing to a Cincinnati team known more for passing.
East Carolina’s only score was set up by a Cincinnati fumble at the ECU 38 yard line. All the Pirates could get was a 36-yard field goal by Cameron Broadwell.
“I had no idea we would learn that much from the first game,” said Thompson. “We were surprised with some things that happened but I think because it was our first game and we had not seen our guys in a competitive situation that we did find out an awful lot about our team.”
“The first game you’re not sure how you’re going to do,” said Rich Rodriguez. “After the first game there is a whole lot of coaching being done. You find out what your guys can do and see if they can take corrections.”
“We were not very good on Monday but hopefully we’ll be better,” Thompson added.
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| West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez is anticipating a big crowd in Greenville for Saturday's game. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Thompson became a head coach for the first time last December after spending the past 19 seasons as a defensive coordinator, most recently at Florida. Thompson has also coached at Arkansas, LSU, Memphis, Southern Mississippi, Louisiana Tech, Northwestern State and Alabama.
He brings a defensive reputation to East Carolina, where the Pirates thrived offensively under longtime coach Steve Logan.
“Our players have been great,” said Thompson of the transition. “They haven’t flinched at anything we’ve asked them to do. I think that they have bought in and we’ll see if we keep making progress.
“You bring in a lot of new staff … we retained one guy from the staff last year,” Thompson added. “It’s all new ideas and all new terminology so it’s going to take a while.”
In addition to losing by 37 points in the opener, Thompson also had to deal with the trauma of losing 1,000-yard rusher Art Brown during fall camp. The preseason all-CSUA pick averaged 102.9 yards per game last season and he ranked sixth in the nation in scoring.
“I realize that everything is not good right now,” said Thompson. “I’m a realist but I look at the glass being half-full and not half-empty. I think you have to look back and learn from your mistakes. You just kind of have to look forward. Why wallow in self pity or go back?”
Brown’s replacement Marvin Townes (6-0, 194, Jr.) managed just 36 yards on 15 carries. As a team East Carolina could muster just 57 yards rushing on 32 attempts -- an average of 1.8 yards per carry.
ECU’s offensive line was considered one of its strengths coming into the season. The presence of five senior lettermen, including preseason All-American candidate Brian Rimpf (6-6, 324, Sr.) led some to predict that the Pirates had the best offensive line in CSUA.
Doug White (6-1, 308, Sr.) is an all-CUSA candidate at center while Brian Fox (6-3, 302, Sr.) has made 14 starts at right guard.
The wide receiver corps is led by senior Terrance Copper (6-0, 211, Sr.), who made a career-high 11 catches for 106 yards in the season opener against Cincinnati. Copper was ECU’s top returning pass catcher from a year ago, snaring 30 aerials for 395 yards.
Damarcus Fox (5-8, 177, Jr.) and tight end Kort Shankweiler (6-2, 235, Fr.) are also capable targets.
Thompson made a change at quarterback where he announced before the Cincinnati game that option-style quarterback Desmond Robinson (5-10, 207, Jr.) would take over in place of veteran Paul Troth (6-5, 222, Jr.).
Robinson, making his first career start since high school in 1999, completed 7 of 11 passes for 70 yards with one interception. He also ran 5 times for 5 yards.
Troth, a 2,000-yard passer from a year ago, came in relief and completed 9 of 15 passes for 76 yards. He was sacked three times.
Defensively, middle linebacker Chris Moore (6-1, 220, So.) tied a school record with 24 tackles in Monday’s opener at Cincinnati. Moore also had two tackles for losses and caused the fumble that resulted in ECU’s only score.
Defensive tackle Damane Duckett (6-7, 289, Sr.) provides a towering presence on defensive and has played in every game over the last three seasons. Sophomore Josh Chilsom (5-10, 220, So.) plays the wolf position and enters 2003 as the team’s top returning tackler. He made a career-high 12 stops against Southern Miss and also set an ECU record for freshmen with four sacks last season.
Senior rover Travis Heath (6-2, 198, Sr.) is the leader of East Carolina’s retooled secondary. He has scored a defensive touchdown in each of the last two seasons and caused two fumbles, had an interception, and recovered two fumbles – one of which resulted in a TD – in a dominant performance last year against No. 22 TCU.
Senior corner Brandon Rainer (5-10, 185, Sr.) also has quality experience, making his 11th start and 37th appearance Saturday against the Mountaineers.
Rodriguez and his coaching staff are scrambling to get a beat on what East Carolina will do defensively this Saturday.
“They used some man coverage and a different type of two-deep zone,” said Rodriguez. “They have done some in the past but not as much as we have seen. We’ve gone back and watched some Southern Miss film. We watched some film when Coach Thompson was at Arkansas.”
ECU punter Ryan Dougherty averaged a very respectable 45.2 yards on eight kicks Monday against Cincinnati.
Although West Virginia leads the overall series by a 12-2 count, the Mountaineers dropped their last game in Greenville, 23-20 in 1995. West Virginia also lost to East Carolina, 30-23 in the 1999 season opener played in Charlotte.
There is no live television for Saturday’s game, but West Virginia fans can follow all of the action through MSN radio.
Internet coverage is provided by Yahoo! Sports and the broadcast can be accessed through MSNsportsNET.com.
